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OSU will be tough to slow down

Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State's breakout wide receiver, has 84 catches for 1,430 yards and is the biggest playmaker on the nation's No. 1 offense, which visits Lawrence on Saturday.

LAWRENCE — Somebody suggested to Turner Gill that it seemed like every time Justin Blackmon gets the ball, it's a big play.

"There's some truth to that," Gill said.

That truth is observable on the stat sheet. Blackmon, the breakout Oklahoma State wide receiver, gains an average of 17 yards per catch. He has scored a conference-leading 16 touchdowns (tied with his teammate, running back Kendall Hunter, incidentally). With two games to play he has 84 catches for 1,430 yards, the biggest playmaker on the nation's No. 1 offense.

As always, Gill breaks it down into easily digestible bites. When he arrived at Buffalo, Gill surveyed the MAC and noticed that all you really needed to win the conference was a good quarterback. So he got a good quarterback and he won the MAC. He now is in a position to admire Oklahoma State's 9-1 record and first-place position in the Big 12 standings, a feat for a school that seems always to be looking up at Oklahoma and Texas in its division. Gill sees things worth emulating, and his description sounds a lot like his recipe for winning the MAC.

"I think the biggest thing they've done from an offensive standpoint is they have a good quarterback, they have a very good running back and they have a good receiver," Gill said. "So that gives them an opportunity in every ballgame."

KU (3-7) is someplace short of having that. Oklahoma State has 5,475 offensive yards this season. Kansas has 3,128 and has allowed 4,138. Saturday's game in Memorial Stadium is a mismatch, and that's hardly a secret.

"We're gonna have a tough task to slow them down, because that's what you're gonna do," Gill said. "You're not gonna stop them."

If there is good news in this for KU, it is that the Jayhawks defense has been significantly improved over the last six quarters, forcing turnovers and tackling better than it has at any other time this season. Though even KU defensive coordinator Carl Torbush acknowledged that Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez appeared to have been instructed to go down or go out of bounds rather than take a hit, Torbush nonetheless was encouraged by the recently improved defense.

"We got better," Torbush said. "We didn't get good enough to win, but we got better."

Both QBs to play

Gill said Tuesday he intended to play both Quinn Mecham and Jordan Webb at quarterback this week, though Mecham would be the starter.

"We'll try to play, we may play both guys," Gill said.

Kale Pick, who began the season as KU's starter, is now the third-string quarterback and not getting repetitions in practice, offensive coordinator Chuck Long said.

Webb, who injured his shoulder against Texas A&M and has been in some state of recovery ever since, said he is at full strength this week.